"Baking" With The Air Fryer

2020 is for Dalgona Coffee, 2021 is for Air Fryer

I read this somewhere. Hmmm, and I guess that is true. Did you catch the fever too? Well, I did albeit a bit late for both. The Dalgona coffee craze had wound down a bit when tried to make one myself. I could not let that pass as a professed coffee lover.

Air Fryer. I remember my colleague suggested this to me some years prior (2015?). The "best kitchen equipment" she purchased yet, she said. I was intrigued, but not that much that I would buy. Then came 2021. I kept on seeing air fryer... air fryer... Hmmm.. It might just be time! So before 2021 ended, I bought one.

Cooking with the Air Fryer.

We don't eat a lot of fried food as a family. Hence the air fryer has been mostly kept in its box, only taken out once in a while. Sometimes I would cook french fries in it, and yes, I even tried making crispy pata in it. An air fryer is a kitchen equipment where hot air circulates around the chamber (basket) making the food inside it crispy.

Once, I thought, what if I baked in the air fryer? I've seen some food vloggers do this, so I just might as well.

Baking in an air fryer?

The first concern is that I won't be able to use my standard baking pan in the air fryer so I had to make an alternative -- I shaped the foil to fit the basket (double to make sure it wouldn't leak). Then another to put on top and avoid the hot air from touching the cake batter directly. Leaving the batter uncovered would make the cake crispy outside but uncooked inside.

Baking Time

I tried baking banana cake here first, and then chocolate cake a couple of weeks after. The baking time was significantly longer than it would had I used the traditional oven.

Usually, my banana cake was done within 40 minutes in an oven, the chocolate cake done in 30 or so minutes. Using the air fryer at 200°C, I had to wait around 1.5 hours or more.

After baking covered for about 1.5 hours, I removed the cover at the last 30 minutes and lowered the heat to 120°C.

_{Banana cake, in my make-shift pan, finally done after 2 hours!}

The Tooth"Prick" Test

I did the toothpick test at the one hour mark and found that my cake was still very soft inside since I covered it and the hot air couldn't really penetrate. Impatient as I really am, I thought of poking through the bottom of my tin foil pan. That way, the hot air from the bottom of the basket would pass through the holes, through the cake batter, but in a more regulated manner.

I would like to say that the "prick" trick worked and the baking time went quicker afterwards.

Wait, there's more!

Remember I said I removed the cover at the last 30-minute mark to get the crispy-brown texture on top of my banana cake? Well, the bottom of the cake wasn't toasted enough to my liking so I flipped my cake afterwards to get that same toasted texture at the bottom.

Air Fryer or Oven?

Of course, bake in an oven, still! The cakes done in an air fryer were not as pretty (but still moist and yummy!). However, there will be times when I would do it in the air fryer-- example when I am not quite sure if my gas tank is filled enough. My oven uses the gas while of course the air fryer uses electricity. Our rent is inclusive of the electricity bills, and I buy my own gas cylinder. Soooo...